


Patrem

by rainbowdracula



Series: Filius [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Peter, Adoption, Gen, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-25
Updated: 2015-07-25
Packaged: 2018-04-11 05:52:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4423871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainbowdracula/pseuds/rainbowdracula
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hell's Kitchen's spider attracts the attention of Captain America. Their first meeting does not go well.</p><p>Or: more in the AU where Matt Murdock adopted Peter Parker.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Patrem

**Author's Note:**

> Done for [this prompt](http://daredevilkink.dreamwidth.org/3230.html?thread=6147230#cmt6147230) on the Daredevil Kink Meme.

The lights in the apartment were off, letting the gaudy neon colors of the billboard spill through the windows and cast strange shadows on the sparse furniture. It was a gray night, a quiet night, a summer rainstorm lashing against the city. It made him think of self-flagellation, and penance through punishment.

Peter sat cross-legged on the living room floor, a strip of black fabric stretched across his lap. Matt prowled behind him, power coiled into every step.

"One day your sight will betray you," Matt said. "To rely solely on your eyes is to cut off your foot in preference for your hand."

"My senses are sharper already, sensei," Peter drawled. Matt snorted.

"That means nothing, if you don't know how to use that power," Matt replied. "Put on the blindfold."

With a shaky breath, Peter pressed the fabric to his eyes and tied it tightly around his head. The gaudy billboard lights blinked out, replaced by the rain on the windows and Matt's bare feet upon the floor.

"You have to learn how to sort through the stimuli that bombard you," Matt said, voice very soft. "Otherwise you'll drown. Mediation helps, but that's often inconvenient."

He placed his hand on Peter's shoulder.

"We'll focus on one sense at a time," Matt said. "Hearing first. The world is so full of noise, Peter. You think the neighborhood is quiet tonight, everyone hiding away from the storm, but that's far from the truth."

He moved again, clothes rustling, and crouched down in front of Peter.

"Don't focus on the blindfold," Matt breathed. "Focus on the noise."

There were cars, moving slowly through traffic and water. People moving through the building – fighting and laughter echoing through the halls. Under the white noise of the rain, there were people outside, too, the price of getting drenched worth it for some other goal. His father's heartbeat, powerful and steady like the continuous rhythm of a pounding drum.

Peter exhaled, and opened his eyes.

It had been raining for days, drenching the city and causing it to sweat. Heat dripped, his suit clinging to him under the protective armor. The city stretched out, the summer shaping out to be long and lazy. He turned on his heel, scuttling between buildings and looking for trouble. Nothing interesting had happened in weeks, the heat apparently too much for Hell's Kitchen's criminal element.

The night was interrupted by the sound of metal against metal. Peter froze.

Metal hitting metal was not an unusual sound, if a bit jarring. And one half of the sound was that mundane strike, loud and jarring, but the other...

It was still vibrating through the air, slicing through the droplets of rain like a bell.

Peter clung to the side of an old office building, sticking to the shadows. He followed the sound, humming in the air, and stuck to the shadows. Just his luck he finds some sort of weird robot fighting ring or something.

Finally he came into the cramped little alley where the noise came from, peering down from the top of the building. His breath stopped.

Among the broken glass and dirty needles stood _Captain America._

He was in plain clothes except for the dazzling shield, golden hair slicked to his head. He was tall, powerfully built, and his heartbeat was slow and strong. Peter blinked a few times, and – like always – his mouth was faster than his brain.

"Good golly gee, it's Captain America!"

Somewhere, five-year-old Peter is crying out in terror that sixteen-year-old Peter could be so painfully lame. Years of afternoon adventures inspired by that shitty cartoon rushed back to him all at once, remembering his most frequent childhood fantasy – Captain America arriving to tell him that only he, Peter Jonathan Murdock (age six), could defeat the evils of HYDRA with him. His dad would often play Captain America, doing his best impression of the cartoon's voice actor.

Captain Rogers's moved quickly, head jerking to where Peter had hidden away in the crevices of spaces. Peter slowly crawled out, perching himself on the edge of a fire escape. He could barely sit normally anymore without thrumming with nervous energy – he had spun a web to sleep in last night. That was probably worrying, but his dad did weirder things.

It was probably more worrying that Peter was the better adjusted one between the two of them, but that was the sort of thought that got pushed down to his stomach.

"I didn't see you there!" Captain Rogers said with a megawatt smile. Peter nearly swooned. "Are you going to stay on the fire escape?"

"That alley's full of needles," Peter said cheerfully. "I avoid the ground whenever I can."

Captain Rogers casted a baleful glance around, shifting his feet closer together. "You must be Spider-Man. The reports said you were much more talkative than your colleague."

"If you've read about us, then you know how Daredevil feels about the Avengers butting into Hell's Kitchen," Peter said. As much as it broke his heart, he was first and foremost Matt's son. "He considers you guys only good for alien attacks and killer robots."

Captain Rogers shrugged. "He's got a point. You don't seem upset that I'm here, though."

"Nah, you're plain clothes anyway," Peter said. "But Daredevil's the boss. And no offense, he's a lot scarier than you are."

"I'd imagine," Captain Rogers said. "The boss? You take orders from him?"

 _Well, he's my dad, so..._ "It's really more of a mentorship type thing, you know? Like gritty reboot _Karate Kid._ I'm sarcastic Daniel, he's scary Mister Miyagi. Together, we fight crime."

The look on Captain Rogers's face suggested he did not get Peter's amazing _Karate Kid_ reference. His loss. It also suggested he did not approve of the Daredevil and Spider-Man partnership.

"And he makes sure I'm well equipped, and trained, and stuff like that," Peter said. He neglected to tell Captain Rogers the parts about not being able to go out on patrol if he doesn't keep his grades up, but that would betray A) his age and B) that Daredevil was in a position to check his grades. "Good guy, under the glaring and broken bones."

"Okay," Captain Rogers said, eyebrow raised. "So you're about fifteen, right?"

"I am not!" Peter squawked indigently, which probably didn't help his case. "I know what I'm doing!"

"Do you?" Captain Rogers asked, and he was slipping into a tone of voice Peter knew well. It was the tone of voice Matt used when he did something like skip class. "Because from where I'm standing, your _mentor_ is letting a _child_ run around and beat up drug dealers in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in New York!"

" _Don't talk about him like that!_ " Peter yelled, shocking Steve into silence. "You don't know him. You haven't talked to him. You just want me to pretend like I'm...like I'm _normal._ Like I can't crawl up walls and contort into pretzels. I can't _change_ that, and he understands that. You want abstinence, he wants me to be safe."

 _Did I just compare my dad and Captain America to the two different schools of sex education?_ Peter thought after he calmed down a bit. Before he could explore that potentially disturbing thought further, the sudden silence was shattered.

"You are not welcomed here, Rogers."

Matt – _Daredevil_ – had managed to get on to the opposite fire escape without either of them knowing. His voice was a low, raspy growl.

"And I _don't_ appreciate having my student interrogated," Daredevil continued. "Are you already buttering him up for the Avengers?"

"I'm just questioning the man who recruits a teenager into his one man crusade," Captain Rogers said. Peter recognized the exact moment that Matt was _done._

"Like you are one to talk about crusades," he hissed, moving like he was about to strike. "Who amongst us volunteered for their freak lab accident?"

Peter gave a considering shrug. "He's got a point there."

Matt jumped down from the fire escape, getting right into Captain Rogers's business. Peter froze, thoughts overtaken with the idea that his dad and Captain America might actually get into a fight right now.

"You are not his father, that is not a role you just take," Matt said, low and dangerous. "That is a role you have to _earn._ "

Captain Rogers was red. Daredevil took a step back, climbing back up the fire escape.

"Come on, wallcrawler," he called to Peter. With a backwards glance at Captain America, Peter scrambled on after him.

A couple of blocks away, they stopped to regroup.

"So he might suspect something," Matt sighed.

"I mean, that rant about fathers probably could've been more subtle," Peter agreed. He nudged Matt's shoulder. "But it was very inspirational and made me think even more fondly on our father-son bond."

"Smartass," Matt said with a grin, gripping Peter's soaked shoulder.

**Author's Note:**

> ~~As MattSteve trash, this might not be Steve's only shot at fatherhood.~~
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> [Me on Tumblr.](http://rainbowdracula.tumblr.com/)
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> [Writing commission information.](http://rainbowdracula.tumblr.com/post/121606093217/writing-commissions)


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